Plant Cafe & Kitchen

For my first restaurant review, I decided to start with the big daddy of all vegan restaurants in Seoul: Plant. Plant is by far the most recognized and highly praised vegan restaurant in Seoul. It has won numerous awards and is probably the restaurant that pops up the most when googling where to eat vegan food in Seoul. This recognition is well-deserved as the menu is quite large and offers meals that are typically difficult to find in Korea. I personally have been to this restaurant numerous times and have never been disappointed!

Going to Plant this time around was especially exciting because 1) I convinced my meat-loving boyfriend to go with me and 2) I had been dying to try the breakfast burrito which is one of few items on the menu I hadn’t tried yet!

We went on a Saturday afternoon so I expected a wait as there is usually a long line, but were pleased when we showed up with only one group ahead of us! We were seated in no time which was lucky for me because they stop selling the Breakfast Burrito at 3PM. Our order went in at 2:50.

Sometimes I feel pressure eating with non-vegan friends because they usually leave ordering up to me since I know vegan food fairly well. I always want to make sure I order a dish suited to their taste to show them that “YES! VEGAN FOOD IS DELICIOUS!”. However, at Plant I figured this wouldn’t be an issue because every dish on the menu is delightful.

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After a lot of going back and forth, we settled on ordering the Tempeh Satay as an appetizer, the popular Lentil Burrito Bowl , my long awaited Breakfast Burrito, and an Elderberry Kombucha to drink.

I love Kombucha and always jump at the chance to drink it, but it was a big no for my boyfriend. He has never had kombucha before, and he really didn’t like the strong, sour taste of it. I feel like Kombucha is one of those things you either love or hate, but what i loved even more than the kombucha was watching my boyfriend’s face pucker up when trying it. It looked like he had just bit into a lemon! Haha.

The tempeh was brought out shortly after our drink, and after taking lots of videos/photos of it (the vlog life is hard!), we finally dug in. The dish comes with 3 skewers, and each skewer has 3 bite-sized cubes of tempeh. It was the perfect serving size for an appetizer and the Thai flavors of it were unreal. Tempeh is one of those foods that may seem “odd” to people who are unfamiliar with it. I wasn’t sure what my boyfriend would think of it because it was his first time eating it, but he loved it! Since this came out on the menu, I’ve ordered it every time that I’ve visited because it’s just that good.

My boyfriend’s favorite dish of what we ordered was the lentil burrito bowl and for good reason because it’s freaking delicious! I love the complexity of this dish and the layers upon layers of pure goodness! Also, this dish is super filling due to the rice and lentils so you definitely won’t leave hungry after eating this!

Finally…my long-awaited breakfast burrito!! I thought it was…(drumroll, please)…good, but admittedly not my favorite. I love tofu scramble and cook it very often at home so I’ve had my fair share of breakfast burritos. I guess because of that, my expectations were set very high. Also, the menu states that potatoes are served in the burrito, but I couldn’t see or taste any which was kind of a bummer because I’m a big fan of spuds. I DID like it, but enjoy other items on the menu more.

It would be a sin to leave Plant without getting any of their amazing desserts, so we went to scope out our options. I’m rarely in a situation where there are so many vegan options that it’s actually hard to choose what to eat, so eyeballing all the cakes, cookies, and baked goods was exciting!

We were way too full at this point to eat a dessert in the restaurant, so we decided to grab a Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookie and a PBJ bar to go. After eating them both at home, my verdict is that I enjoyed both desserts a lot, but especially loved the PBJ bar. It might actually be my new go-to item for future visits!

As I mentioned above, I’ve been to Plant before a number of times (probably an embarrassing amount of times), so here are some photos of dishes that I’ve had in the past! My ultimate favorite thing to eat at Plant is the CTC (Crispy Tofu Cutlet) Burger which is a fried “chicken” burger made with tofu. It is life-changing, but only served on Wednesdays so plan accordingly!

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Plant is a really special place and vegan heaven in a city that has barbecue joints on every corner. If you are visiting Seoul, I can’t stress how much this restaurant needs to be on your list of places to eat at! Click the image below to save it to your itinerary on Pinterest!

Pro Tip: The street that Plant is located on is full of some really cool antique shops! I’m not much of an antiquer, but really enjoyed walking around the area and doing some window shopping.

Information

Plant Cafe & Kitchen
ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Itaewon-dong 130-43, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
TRANSPORTATION: Itaewon Station (Line 6) Exit 4
PHONE:02-749-1981
HOURS: Mon – Sat 11am-10pm (Kitchen closes by 9pm)